Got burned by a $70 Park Tool spoke tension meter, feel like an idiot

Bought a used Park Tool TM-1 off Craigslist for $70 last week thinking I got a deal. Got it home and the gauge needle was bent, so my spoke readings were all over the place. Ended up stripping two nipples on a wheel build before I realized the readings were phony. Anyone else buy used tools that turned out to be junk? I should've just spent the money on a new one.

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor_miller101d ago

TM-1s are notorious for the needle getting knocked out of whack if you even look at them wrong. Did you try recalibrating against a known true wheel before trashing the whole tool?

henderson.oscar18h ago

Wait, you can actually recalibrate those? I always figured once they were off, they were just junk.